The Three Trillion Dollar Iraq War - Stiglitz & Bilmes

$3,000,000,000,000.00

30 x 100 billion dollars.

Pre-Katrina estimated cost of constructing Category 5 resistant levees in New Orleans: U.S. $2 Billion.

Post-Katrina restoration costs for New Orleans: U.S.$100+ Billion.

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We have previously examined the issue of misjudging the cost of the Iraq nation building experiment and the cost of misdirecting priceless lives and scarce resources to Iraq instead of towards the enormously complex national security challenge of defeating Al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes have just authored a timely analysis of the costs of George W. Bush's nation building experiment in Iraq which Donald Rumsfeld and others previously estimated would cost American taxpayers well under U.S.$200 Billion. The title of the book is The Three Trillion Dollar War. For those who have difficulty grasping the opportunity costs associated with these massive financial obligations, Cost of War offers useful insight on the impact of these costs in local communities at the bottom of AR's pages. Judgements regarding the costs of this enterprise is an issue which will play a crucial role as voters assess the fitness of the candidates who aspire to become the next commander-in-chief and steward of the nation's economic portfolio.

Acropolis Review is grateful to Dr. Stiglitz and Ms. Bilmes for producing such timely and important scholarship at a time when illumination of the national debate of the nexus between national security and economic policy is urgently needed.